Raiders taste for controversy extends to roster cuts

THE RAIDERS

Published 4:00 am, Monday, September 6, 2010

Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast, AP

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Oakland Raiders safety Stevie Brown (27) intercepts a ball intended for Chicago Bears running back Kahlil Bell (32) in the second half of a preseason NFL football game in Chicago, Saturday, Aug. 21, 2010. The Raiders won 32-17. less

Oakland Raiders safety Stevie Brown (27) intercepts a ball intended for Chicago Bears running back Kahlil Bell (32) in the second half of a preseason NFL football game in Chicago, Saturday, Aug. 21, 2010. The ... more

Over the weekend, NFL teams cut their rosters to 53 players and it's not supposed to be an exciting, dramatic time. A team cuts an older player or an impressive rookie, the coach winces a little bit, says it was a tough cut and then everybody moves on.

The Raiders made it interesting Saturday. They cut rookie safety Stevie Brown hours after he talked to reporters about making the team after making several big plays during the exhibition season. Then in a shocker, it turns out Oakland has a new starting outside linebacker in Quentin Groves. Trevor Scott, the team's best linebacker last year, is moving back to defensive end.

And in the most surprising development, the team had a radio-show host in Florida calling its every move before it happened - not to mention digging up some dirt.

Let's start with new Twitter star Andy Slater, the radio host who nailed the Brown cut long before anyone else did. Slater says in his online bio he used to work for Raiders owner Al Davisand break down game film, and one longtime Raiders employee said he's never heard of Slater.

But the leak in Davis' office from which Slater is drinking seems legit.

Slater tweeted Saturday morning that the coaches wanted to cut second-year safety Mike Mitchelland they thought it would be "addition by subtraction." The Raiders cut 21 players before practice, none of them Mitchell or Brown, and had one more to make in the afternoon. Then Slater tweeted that Davis overruled the coaches on letting Mitchell go and that Brown would be cut.

At first, one might have thought Slater was some radio guy just throwing "scoops" against the wall and seeing what sticks, like so many sports reporters do today.

But the Brown thing would be tough to guess, considering Brown had talked to reporters at length - with a PR man nearby - about making the team after practice.

The other shoe dropped on Slater's credibility Sunday, and it was inbounds. He had tweeted that Groves was going to start at outside linebacker in the season opener at Tennessee. No reporter around here had even sniffed that move, but it was all but confirmed by Groves and Scott.

Scott said he has been working in practice exclusively as an end in recent days and that Groves has been working with the first team at weak-side linebacker.

Groves smiled when asked if he was the starter.

"You never know. You've just gotta tune in and see, right?" said Groves, whom the Raiders acquired from Jacksonville for a fifth-round pick. "One game I might be the starter, the next I could be a third-string guy. I just have to come in and prepare myself as the starter."

How do beat reporters miss the Groves move? Well, we get to watch the first 20 minutes of practice before being escorted off the field. I think the second we leave, the coaches and players look around, pick up the intensity and start working on their real offensive and defensive packages.

Brown was back at practice Sunday, a member of the practice squad one day after calling family and friends and telling them that he made the team, and then having to call them back.

Mitchell was at practice, too, and you have to wonder how he's doing with all the talk that the coaches wanted to cut him. He is a hard hitter still learning the ropes of pass coverage, and he can bring that edge with him off the field. Teammate Tyvon Branch jokingly calls him "the angriest man on the planet."

Mitchell had a wide-ranging interview after the last preseason game Thursday night, talking about how he can dominate if he gets a chance to play more often. Then, about how he hoped to make the team. Then, back to how he was confident he would make it and wasn't worried.

Meanwhile, Hiram Eugenewas the safety most pegged to be cut, after a preseason full of big plays by Brown. Eugene, though, had no reason to be worried, aided by his ability to play a little cornerback if need be.

There are other questions to be answered this week: Is running back Michael Bushclose to returning after thumb surgery? What happened to rookie linebacker Travis Goethel?

The sixth-round pick from Arizona State wasn't even at the Coliseum for Thursday's final exhibition game, and coach Tom Cablewould not disclose the linebacker's injury. Goethel, who made the team, was not at Saturday's or Sunday's practices, either, and Cable still won't say what the deal is.

We'd ask Slater, but we'd guess Davis plugged up that leak by now.

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